With summer winding down, and hunting season close to kicking into full gear, the wife and I really wanted to do one last – purely for Abby – activity.   Then, one night while reading one of her favorite books, I instantly knew where we were heading – the zoo.

Abby loves to read books involving animals, and she loves to name the animals as we read through the books.  She loves all the animals – giraffes, zebras, elephants, deer, and turkey – just to name a few, and she takes great pride in knowing them all.  In fact, one night she even corrected me and let me know that the animal we were looking at was indeed a jaguar – and not a cheetah – as I originally thought.

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Ever tried to draw a T-Rex on a Magna Doodle?  Yea, me neither.  But that is exactly what I found myself doing last Saturday night.  And, although my T-Rex didn’t really look like a T-Rex at all – more like a Brontosaurus actually – I did still manage to win the drawing contest.  Okay, so maybe it was because I was competing against a nine year old.  Well…..or it could’ve been because the judges were only ages 7 to 9.

The amazing part about this whole scenario, though, was that I was surrounded by kids…..who were outside….and using their imagination.  Plenty of adults would associate camping with campfires, beer drinking, and s’mores, but here I was surrounded by kids and having a great time.

We were in a zone.

My wife’s work – at least a few of them from there anyway – take one camping trip a year.  We always have a great time, and this year was no exception, except for one thing:  it brought back my faith in kids’ abilities to have a great time while outside; they do still have imaginations.

These kids had access to electronic devices, a lake, multiple playgrounds, and a host of other not so productive or creative things, and yet here they were participating in a game that was started by a five year old and myself.  And not only did they participate in this simple, fun, creative activity, they did so until their parents made them go to bed after 11pm.

It was awesome.  It restored my faith in kids.  And it proved the point that I have written about a few times on this blog already:  the outdoor experience doesn’t have to be anything overtly spectacular or creative. It can be something as simple as two Magna Doodles, a flashlight, a campfire, and a few camping chairs.

In four hours I never heard DS or Ipod.  Not once!

You got to love that!

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Well, after much delay, I have the details from the last leg of our journey. We left off with our first day in Yellowstone. So, we’ll pick up with the second day in the amazing park.

The first day did allow us to see much of the park and the wildlife at a rather quick pace. So, the second day we decided to concentrate on the northeast section of the park and take a little more time to explore outside of our vehicle (which is not easy with two children). We headed towards Tower Falls first and checked out the gigantic waterfall and the beautiful canyon area. On the way, we did manage to catch a quick glimpse of a black bear wandering in a  swampy valley in search of food. As for the canyon and waterfall, it was awesome to see a “different” side of Yellowstone. Shortly after checking out the falls we made our way to the Lamar Valley area, which thanks to my brother’s recommendation, was probably the highlight of the day for us. The valley is absolutely stunning when you first see it. Bison are everywhere grazing and the mountains provide a picturesque backdrop. We did catch a glimpse of a wolf. He seemed to be scoping out the gigantic herd of bison, but was too far away for our simple camera to pick up.

It is hard to take all scenery in while moving in a vehicle so we made our way to a little creek called Pebble Creek. We spent a little bit of time outside the vehicle and the kids enjoyed all the rocks at the creek (for one kid specifically, water was more of a thrill than rocks!). It was a great little break from the car and it made us realize that just being barely off the road was very tranquil and peaceful!

Next, we made our way back to a little trail that led to a somewhat secluded lake, called Trout Lake. The hike itself was not very long, but the incline that we had to hike at made it very difficult for not only the little legs that were with us, but also the out-of-shape people too. I know this sounds crazy, but the lake might have been the highlight of the trip for me. It was awesome to get off the “beaten path”, so to speak, and retreat to such a place. And, to make the views even more spectacular, I quickly noticed that the lake was full of some nice rainbow trout! The only negative is that some little legs did, indeed, become exhausted and make the journey back down a little bit of a hassle.

By this time our journey to Yellowstone was near its end. We decided to make our way back towards the north entrance so we could relax and get ready for the early departure that would greet us the next morning. We had one problem. The animal that I most wanted to see, a grizzly, had not made an appearance for us yet. Well, things were about to change! As we were rounding a corner in the road we noticed that up ahead the traffic had come to a halt and there was a police officer and several park rangers directing traffic. Our first thought was that an accident had taken place. To our surprise the closer we got, the more people we saw scampering all over with giant cameras in tow. I looked directly at my wife and told her this HAD to be it! This much commotion would not take place for a bison or elk. Sure enough a grizzly and four cubs had been spotted in a valley down below the road. After a long attempt at trying to find a place to park we made our way to the scene. Sure enough, the grizzly and four little ones were wandering and feeding in the valley below. They were probably at least 400 to 500 yards away, so it did make viewing kind of difficult (not that I wanted them ANY closer!). But I had seen the giant, elusive bear, and my one goal was now accomplished. Our trip to Yellowstone was now complete.

After an exhilarating couple days at Yellowstone we were in for a long drive to Seattle. We did manage to make one interesting stop in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. It is a very scenic city nestled right on Lake Couer d’Alene and the views are stunning. The weather was not the greatest but we still managed to get some glimpses of the beautiful terrain in Idaho. After crossing the short northern stretch of Idaho we were finally in the state of Washington. If you have never been to the state, it is extremely unique. The east side of the state is somewhat flat and almost reminds you of the Midwest. The west side is completely opposite and has towering mountains and hills everywhere. It made for an interesting journey across our last state.

I am glad to say that we did arrive safe to the Seattle area. After spending a few days with some family on Mercer Island, which again, has some breathtaking views of the city of Seattle overlooking Lake Washington, we boarded for the very last leg of the trip – the six hour flight to our new home, the Big Island of Hawaii.

Well, I know that this has been a long series of posts, but I hope this gives you some insight into the journey we took. Thanks to Arthur for allowing me to share these long winded posts. Also, thanks to all our family and friends, we will miss you guys, but will definitely stay in touch!

Hopefully in the near future I will have some more posts and updates on the outdoor activities that I find to do out here in beautiful Hawaii. I already have a list of things I want to check into (recently I discovered there is actually fly fishing for largemouth, smallmouth, and peacock bass on the island of Kauai!!!) and hope to give you, the readers, a different perspective from Simply Outdoors!

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Well, I won’t waste anytime. Let’s jump right into the 3rd day of our “Great Western Trek.”

After our incredible visit to Mount Rushmore and the stay in the awesome little town of Keystone, we headed for our next stay, Belgrade, Montana. Since Keystone is a little off the beaten path, we had to first make our way north to the city of Rapid City in order to get on the highway that would take us in the direction we needed to go. On our way to Rapid City we decided to stop at a “touristy” spot called Bear Country USA. It is basically a park that you can drive through and see tons and tons of wildlife. These animals are wild, but not truly wild, if that makes sense. They are animals, and can be dangerous, but they are fed everyday and basically live in giant fenced areas that you can drive through. We knew we were going to be eventually going to Yellowstone, but this was an opportunity to let the kids see some animals up close and personal…and they did. We had close encounters with black bears, grizzly bears, elk, caribou, big horn sheep, rocky mountain goats, bison, and some wolves. I will vouch for the fact that the bears are a little intimidating. They were all over the place and a couple times I thought that my wife and daughter were going to either have a heart attack or kill me (I was driving). My son on the other hand went nuts and loved every second of it. For those of you that know him, you can only imagine! Bear Country USA was a great way start to the third day. We got our fill of viewing wildlife. Oh, and we did even get to see quite a few bear cubs. They were awesome. They pummeled and chased each other all over the place like puppies do.

After leaving Bear Country, we headed towards Belgrade, Montana, which is right outside of Bozeman and not too far from the priority of our trip, Yellowstone National Park. The weather did not cooperate at all and the drive consisted of nothing but rain and wind. It made the driving tedious, but kept us alert! We did arrive in Belgrade safely and went to sleep thinking of our visit to Yellowstone which was to occur the next morning.

The fourth day we awoke and quickly headed for the west entrance to YNP, which is located in, obviously, West Yellowstone. I was amazed that during our hour and a half scenic drive to the entrance we saw a few vehicles, but not that many. Upon arrival at the gate, I was stunned to see the amount of cars lined up to get in. People and cars were everywhere. After only a few minutes of being in the park we were quickly introduced to “wildlife viewing” in Yellowstone. Now, I do understand that for many people, myself included, seeing elk, bison, and the many other animals of Yellowstone is not an everyday experience. Anyways, upon our first “encounter” (which was a small herd of elk crossing the river) I literally thought that someone was being attacked by a grizzly or maybe there was car a accident. Nope! People were just throwing all common sense and driving etiquette out the window to get a picture of these creatures. Don’t get me wrong, it is amazing to see this wildlife in their natural environment, but people go to any length to get close. One thing a lot of people seemed to forget. These animals are WILD! Here is another classic example. We were at the paint pots area viewing the hot springs and stuff and my wife spotted a coyote about 30 yds away. I told her not to say anything because pandemonium would occur if she did. So we kept walking quietly. The yote did not seem disturbed by the human presence and kept wandering closer in his search for food. Finally when he was about 15 yds from us, someone else spotted him and shouted, “Coyote!” Man, what a disaster. Some lady about knocked me on my tail trying to get “the pic” of the animal. It was crazy. People began running from all over to get as close as they could. Luckily the park ranger stepped in and reminded people that these are wild animals and they should keep their distance! Funny part is, I was more concerned about getting hit by a fellow tourist than I was about getting attacked by a coyote. What an experience.

The highlight of the first day in Yellowstone had to be seeing Old Faithful erupt. The legendary geyser was no disappointment. We did arrive shortly after it erupted, so we spent some time in the gift shop and store area waiting for the next predictable eruption. The eruptions occur roughly 90 minutes apart, give or take 10 minutes on either side. It was an incredible experience and one we won’t forget. I do think that the kids got more enjoyment out of the chipmunk that kept coming close to them though.

After the first day in Yellowstone, we did manage to see tons and tons of bison, lots of elk, a moose, a black bear, and several coyotes. The one animal that I had my heart set on seeing was a grizzly. Day one did not provide that opportunity. However, there was more than just wildlife to see and the scenery  is as good as you can imagine. The valleys, mountains, lakes, and streams made for some stunning pictures. Although, we were wishing that we did have a better quality camera.

Well, that about sums up days 3 and 4 of the trip. Hopefully, tomorrow I will have a post detailing our second day in Yellowstone (day 5 of the trip) and the last leg of our trek to Seattle. Stay tuned!

P.S. Thank goodness for McDonald’s and their WiFi access. Without them, the post would have not been up till tomorrow

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The idea of cramming two adults and two children, both under the age of 6, into a vehicle and traveling roughly 2200 miles seems insane. Let me tell you, it is! As Arthur stated in a previous post, our family is relocating to Hawaii. Part of the moving process involves us driving from Michigan to the Seattle, Washington area. Over the next few days I will have some posts updating our Great Western Trek and our move to the Big Island of Hawaii. Now, even though these posts will not involve any hunting or fishing, they will definitely involve some outdoor related activities. So, to kick things off, here is a tidbit of part 1 of our trip:

The first day involved us traveling through Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and a sliver of Nebraska. I have never been to Iowa or Nebraska, so I was excited to at least get a glimpse of these two “new” states. Well, similar to most of the rest of the Midwest, they are mostly farmland and were not much different than Michigan. They even had the same weather. It was extremely hot and humid! We did cross the Mississippi, which was probably the highlight of the first day. Unfortunately, not much else happened the first day. It was the longest day spent in the van, which can test your patience with two kids in a vehicle for over 11 hours. I think I picked up a few more gray hairs from that day!

The second day is when the fun really began. We left fairly early from our motel in Nebraska and headed towards Keystone, South Dakota. Keystone is the tiny town just below Mount Rushmore. Along the way we did manage to stop at a rest stop just before we crossed the Missouri River. This was not any ordinary rest stop. We (or should I stress “I”) ended up doing a lot of reading about Lewis and Clark and their expedition across America. It was very, very interesting and the scenery at the rest stop was absolutely amazing. You could tell we were starting to get further west because of the drastic change in scenery. Gone were the farmlands and crop fields. We now saw grasslands and hills. We also saw dozens and dozens of antelope. To some that may not be a big deal, but being from the Midwest and South, antelope are not exactly abundant. I think I did get on the wife’s nerves though, because I kept calling them out every time I saw them. They were everywhere and it made the time spent in the vehicle go by faster (at least for me).

The highlight of day 2 was the stay in Keystone and the stop at Mount Rushmore. I had actually been to this giant sculpture once before, but this time I spent a little more time and actually enjoyed it a little more. It is mind boggling to look at the size of the artistic piece and realize all the manpower that it took to create it. I did learn a lot more on this visit. One thing in particular stood out this time too. The man responsible for directing the sculpting did not live to see its completion. If you want some interesting reading, check out John Gutzon Borglum, the famous sculptor known for his large scale projects.

That about sums up the first two days of the trip. Not a ton on the wildlife side of life…yet. Stay tuned for the update on days 3 and 4. Wildlife become much more abundant. Almost too abundant in one situation.

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